A Different Song
by Ballycastle-Bat
Summary: Eath 297: An AU where Oliver gets a little bit of a softer ending [Full summary in notes]


[Summary: Eath 297: After screwing things up with his long time girlfriend Laurel Lance, Oliver Queen realizes that it is time for him to get his life together. He doesn't know what he's doing; but he's doing his best. In an attempt to cheer him up, best friend Tommy Merlyn drags him to a retreat for his college's GSA.

Oliver has no idea that one drunken night would the start of a new chapter in his life.

Notes: I wanted something kind of softer than I usually do, I guess. I'm not really good at things that aren't solidly some form of established friends lovers so I apologise if anything seems rushed.

Pairings: Barry Allen x Oliver Queen, Past Tommy Merlyn x Oliver Queen and Oliver Queen x Laurel Lance

Warning: Heavy drinking, references to smoking there is also one small scene of some harder drug use on page but not by any main characters.

Spoillers: None.]

Oliver Queen had only recently come out of the closet. He'd always known though, after all, Tommy Merlyn was his first love. They were fourteen when they knew. It was young fleeting love though, the fire died only to be replaced by a strong bond that couldn't be broken for anything. They would always be best friends, and they considered themselves soulmates; though neither said such things out loud. You just couldn't have one without the other.

Tommy never felt a need to come out in the traditional sense. He more, decided to one day be more open about his attraction to people. It wasn't as if he had anyone to come out to, his mother had died when he was young and his father wasn't in the picture. That only left the Queens and the Lance girls; all of whom already knew.

Oliver had always been more private about these things, only tentatively telling his best friend and ex-girlfriend's younger sister Sara Lance that he was Bisexual, same as she was. She felt like the safest option at the time if he was being honest with himself. Sure, everyone loved Tommy, but he couldn't help but worry things would be different for him because things were always different for him.

That being said, Oliver wasn't exactly keen on going on the college's GSA retreat. He loved traveling, and it was going to be at one of the resorts his family had visited a few times. He just didn't really feel like a vacation after his mother had basically told him to stay in the closet and keep his 'male lovers behind the scenes'. While his father seemed to be of a different mindset. It had caused a point of contention between his parents, so in a way he was grateful for the break; but he wasn't entirely sure where to start with this. He felt like joining the group and going on a trip with them was a lot.

So, of course, when he was dragged to the Karaoke party by Tommy he hung in the back; taking a very strong interest in the bar. He'd only finished his second beer when he heard them announcing that someone had gotten in line for a duet when their partner bailed. He didn't even look twice; Karaoke was not for him. The only person who heard him sing was Tommy, probably. Maybe his shower head, but he didn't really feel happy enough to sing in the shower these days.

He nearly spit his beer everywhere when Tommy grabbed his arm; hard enough to jolt him. He didn't waste any time in dragging Oliver up to the front. "He volunteers!"

"Tommy, what the fuck," he whispers, but he's already on the stage, nearly tripping on the step up. "Uh-hi," he said awkwardly, taking in his duet partner.

The other man looked a bit sheepish. "Sorry, I didn't know they would do that."

"It's fine. What song are we singing?" he didn't want to make a scene; he'd look like a jerk if he just ditched the poor guy up there after they made that announcement.

"My friend Iris and I chose Need You Now by Lady Antebellum," The other man rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous twitch. "Is that fine?"

"You can't change it, I already put it in," said the girl running the Karaoke machine.

Oliver laughed a bit awkwardly. "I guess I'll try to keep up with you."

The song started out easy enough but it was quickly made obvious to Oliver that his duet partner really knew what he was doing; it stalled him for a second. It didn't take long for him to follow along, the best part of Karaoke was the words on the screen.

When the song ended, they left the stage with the same set of stairs. "You've got a great voice. Are you a musician? I didn't even know that song we sang-- I mean I sort of remember a club mix of it maybe but..." Oliver found himself asking. He'd never seen this man around campus before, but that wasn't such an odd thing. The school was big with a lot of different campuses.

The man laughed out loud. "Me? No. No way. I've just loved music since I was a kid. You're not too bad yourself though. I'm Barry by the way, and I'm going to burn you a CD when I get home. You need some music beyond club mixes."

"Oliver. Do you see the friend that ditched you anywhere?" he asked almost before Barry stopped talking. "Maybe we could hang out for a bit, I don't really know anyone." He wanted Barry to keep talking to him, if he was being honest. He was cute and starting to think this trip wasn't such a bad idea after all.

"Yeah, I saw her take off with your friend who shoved you onto the stage. We can totally hang out, but this is the smoking lounge and some guys are smoking over there. Mind if we go somewhere else?" Barry asked, hoping he didn't look too squeamish, but he knew his dad would have been really disappointed if he stayed.

"Oh yeah, that's fine," Oliver headed through the door in the back of the room with him. "If you're not in music, what are you studying?"

Barry held the door for Oliver behind him and they made their way to the lobby of the resort. "I'm in forensics, I'm like, the only one there," he laughed softly. "My class only has like fifteen other students."

"Oh wow, that's cool though! I'm just studying business. Nothing too exciting there."

"Oh! We're on the same campus then. What dorm are you in?" He seemed to catch himself. "Sorry, that's pretty invasive considering we just met." he laughed, hoping Oliver wouldn't be too freaked out by his intensity.

"Not really invasive, we go to the same school, so. I'm in the Hartford building. I'm like way high up though, the third floor."

"No way, I'm on the first floor! How have I never seen you?" Barry stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Are you hungry? We could go get food. No idea what's around here though."

"Oh, I know the perfect place. Do you like Italian?" Oliver asked, he was already pulling up a mental tab of the restaurants in the area. He knew several where in the area, three within walking distance even in the snow.

"Who doesn't?" Barry laughed. "You seem to know what you're doing so I'll follow you. Meet you down here in ten? I gotta get my gloves." it wasn't quite as cold as Central City winters tended to get, but it was still a bit chilly, especially if they walked to the waterfront.

When they met back up lobby it wasn't a very long walk to the restaurant. It was a bit nicer than Barry expected, he was worried about how much things would cost. He also felt a bit under dressed but Oliver wasn't dressed much different, they both wore tight-knit sweaters and khakis under their coats.

"Hey, Tiff, I called earlier and they said there was a table," Oliver said to the hostess with a bright smile.

"Of course, Ollie," She smiled brightly. "Your friend is cute." she said softly as she led them to a table towards the back. The restaurant was quiet, and there were some people in suits, but mostly people dressed not too far off from how Oliver and Barry were.

"This place is kind of fancy," Barry commented.

"Sorry. Want to go somewhere else? There's a sub shop like a block away but I've never been there."

"Oh, no! This is fine I just … Didn't expect something fancy." He laughed awkwardly.

Oliver didn't even look at the menu, he'd been here a hundred times. Barry had assumed as much of course, but he was lost. Oliver skipped straight to asking Barry: "I'm going to get wine, do you like white or red?"

"Uh," Barry blinked. "Whatever you drink, I guess."

Oliver nodded and when their server arrived, Oliver knew her name too. Their waitress appeared a few moments later.

"The owner is coming out to see you."

Oliver laughed. "Oh, great! I would love to see Janis, I didn't realise she would be here tonight."

"Oh great! I'll be out with your wine." She disappeared into the back.

"They know your wine order?" Barry laughed softly.

"Well, they know my dad's wine order," Oliver shrugged his shoulders casually.

"Right." Barry nodded and soon a brunette woman appeared, whom he assumed was the owner.

"Oliver! I swear every time I see you, you're taller." She smiled fondly, Oliver stood and Barry felt compelled should stand too, so he did. "I haven't seen you since your first term."

"Oh, yeah. I haven't really been in town." Oliver agreed, recalling his last visit to the restaurant with his family. "I'll have my mother call you." he informed her as she left Oliver and Barry to their meal.

"You're friendly with the owner?" Barry asked, trying not to pry too much, but Oliver must have known it would come up when he brought him there.

"Yeah, Janis is great. She went to college with my mom, they're old friends. I grew up with her kids too." He shrugged, it was normal to him, and not all that odd in general. "Her daughter is hot ."

Barry nodded. "That makes sense."

"So," Oliver started. "What exactly do you study in forensics? Is it like on T.V?" Despite the fact that he could care less about science on any other day, he found himself interested in what Barry was doing.

Barry suppressed an eye roll. "No, it's not like C.S.I. the show, not at all." He couldn't really blame Oliver for not knowing that though, so he went on to explain that instead of giving a short answer. "There's a lot of things they have to spice up for television," he began, when he looked at Oliver, he could see he was still interested so he went on. "Like, a lot of times they just throw a blood sample into the computer and bam, suddenly they find someone else in the system."

"I'm guessing that doesn't work?" Oliver pressed, not wanting Barry to think he was bored.

"Yeah," Barry nodded. "It takes time. It can take weeks, especially when you consider the lab might have other samples its testing ahead of those."

"Huh," Oliver nodded. "Makes sense."

Barry thanked the waitress when she brought their food back before asking Oliver about his studies. He didn't know much about business apart from what he'd read in Harrison Wells' autobiography.

"Oh, business is …" he waved his hand around a bit dismissively. "It's a lot of math, a lot of stocks stuff. It's really boring, I hate it."

Barry nodded slowly. "Why did you major in it, then?"

"Not all of us have the option of studying whatever we want," Oliver laughed softly. He hadn't exactly chosen to major in business, he was simply expected to take over for his father one day.

"I'm sorry." He wasn't really sure what else to say.

They easily talked about campus to pass their way through dinner. When they were done, they headed out of the resultant. Barry felt a bit awkward when Oliver slid a credit card into the check folder without even checking the number.

"Nothing for you to be sorry about," Oliver sighed. "Want to walk around a bit? It's still early. I can get the check and we could just wander. Loads of stuff to see. Especially by the docks."

Barry hummed as he thought that over. "Kinda cold for the water, isn't it?"

"Nah, about the same as anywhere else tonight." Oliver shook his head. "I'm from Starling City, which is a little farther north from here."

"Oh, wow!" Barry smiled. "I love big cities, I grew up in Central City."

"Oh, so you're pretty far from home, huh?" Oliver got the door this time as they headed out. "It's not too far to the boardwalk, really. It's really pretty at night too."

"Yeah, it's pretty far but worth it. SCU has a great forensics program." Barry followed him, eager to embark on a new adventure.

As they walked along the boardwalk, Oliver found himself enthralled in Barry. There was something about the passion clear on Barry's face when he started talking; it made him want to listen forever.

"I feel like I'm talking too much," Barry mumbled. "Sorry."

Oliver shook his head, stuffing his hands into his jacket. "I like it, it's nice to not be the only one carrying a conversation."

"Well, I'm sure you have something to say." They moved close to the water, and Barry spotted a lighthouse in the distance. "You were right about the view."

Oliver smiled widely. "Yeah! My family used to come here all the time." he could remember times when his sister was younger, and they had to stop her from running down the boardwalk ahead of them. They could never keep either of them under control, he laughed at the memory. "I've got a little sister, she turned eleven at the start of the year, and she always races me down this boardwalk when we come down. She finally caught on that I was letting her win."

"I've heard kids are smart like that," Barry laughed.

"Huh, you don't have any siblings?" Oliver was surprised, most of the people in his life currently had a few, except for Tommy.

Barry shook his head. "I mean, not in the traditional sense." He'd never really called Iris his sister, but she filled that role pretty well.

"Huh?" Oliver's eyebrows pulled together.

Barry's arm came to rest on the guard rail of the dock. "I don't know," He shrugged. "I live with my best friend Iris, and we're kinda like siblings but not. We're the same age."

"Oh," he nodded and pulled back from the dock a bit as they started to head back to the lodge. Oliver rerouted them to a liquor store on the way back; it wasn't anything fancy just your run of the mill corner store.

Barry went to get himself a bottle of his favourite drink, a very specific brand of vodka. He moved to the back and picked up some rum and tequila. He moved even farther in back and added a few liters of soda.

"What's that?" Oliver asked, having already checked out with his alcohol.

"Soda? For mixers?" He was sure that Oliver was just messing with him, but he answered anyway.

"You're-- you're going to make mixers in the middle of the resort?" Oliver laughed softly. " Really ?"

"Well, I assumed you were going to a room with people or something." Barry looked sheepish, and Oliver found it completely adorable. "Wait, you're going to drink that straight? Are you serious?"

Oliver paused for a moment, letting out a single laugh. "You're so cute."

Barry glowered at him, he hated being called cute in that tone. Hated it more than anything. It was so condescending; always uttered to prove someone didn't take him seriously. "Whatever," he sneered. "I'm going to check out and go find Iris."

Oliver cut Barry off with his body. "Hey … I'm sorry, don't do that. I thought we were having fun?"

"I was." Barry's face was composed, refusing to give Oliver any satisfaction.

"I'm not really good at branching out, so I'm sorry for fucking this up." Oliver really didn't want him to leave; half for selfish reasons, Oliver made stupid choices when he was alone, or with Tommy. The other half was because he just … wanted to spend more time with Barry.

Barry couldn't help but enjoy Oliver's company too, even if he'd been a little abrasive. The rest of the night had been fine, so he saw no reason why he should cut the night short; he was just mad.

He closed his eyes for a second. "Sorry, I just, getting called cute like that gets old real fast." Though, Barry didn't really feel he needed to apologise, things he said usually got across better with an apology tacked on.

They each paid for their alcohol (and pop for Barry) and decided to start making their way towards the resort again. They started to make their way back to the lodge, but were stopped on the boardwalk by an officer. "Oliver, you know you can't have open alcohol on the boardwalk."

"Oh, really? I must have forgot. I am a bit drunk." Oliver replied, making a show of wobbling.

Barry sighed, of course he would end up on a date(?) adult relationships were confusing for Barry, especially in college. He couldn't count the number of times 'just hanging out' was interpreted as a date or some kind of hook up. "Just let me talk," he interrupted, turning to the officer. "Good Evening officer, sorry about that, I'll make sure he gets rid of it. We were just heading back to the lodge up the way. He's not drunk, I swear. I'm not local but would you like to see my I.D?"

"The officer ignored Barry. Will you take a breathalyzer Oliver?"

"Fuck no."

Barry's eyes went wide. "Oliver!" he hissed low. "Just do it!" he felt annoyed, the idea of talking to a cop like that was making his head spin, to see it was a whole other level.

Oliver agreed to the test, and found that it was below the legal limits. Barry threw the beer away for him. "I can't believe you did that!" he was completely shocked. He should have taken that as a red flag, but he didn't know the guy that well.

"Officer Mendez hates me," He waved off Barry's concerns with a literal wave of his hand. "He caught me in the pool with his daughter once and he's been out to get me ever since."

"Do you make a habit of talking to cops like that?" Barry pressed.

Oliver shrugged. "I mean, sometimes? Why are you grilling me?"

"I was raised by a cop, and you're just begging to be arrested." Barry wondered who on earth taught Oliver about interacting with cops. "I grew up in a precinct and at least in Central City no one talks to cops like that, except the really serious criminals."

"Your dad is a cop? Why do I always end up with cops' kids?" Oliver demanded. "I'm never going to be able to visit any city again."

Barry paused, did Oliver consider this a date? Or at the very least some kind of hook up? He meditated on this for a second, before he fully processed what Oliver said. "No, my dad was a respiratory therapist."

"You said you were raised by a cop." Oliver's eyebrows pulled together.

"Yes … who wasn't my father?" he blinked at Oliver, surely he knew what adoption was, or the option for his mother to be a cop.

"Oh." Oliver nodded. "Right," he stuffed his hand into his pockets. "Sorry, I'm a bit distracted."

"You're fine," he didn't focus on it too much as they returned to the lodge.

The lobby was almost silent, there was one man working the front desk who greeted them. Other than that there wasn't really anyone in the lobby, one or two tipsy college students appearing and reappearing. "My room's on the first floor." said Oliver. "I'm sure my friend Tommy is there, were you able to get a hold of your friend Ira?"

"Iris, and no. She never replied to me." they went up to Oliver's room but found a sock on the door. Even Barry Allen, lonely nerd, knew what that meant. "Mine is just up one more floor I'll see if Iris is there."

They made their way up the next three floors, when he arrived he opened the door. It was empty, and Barry knew better than to get in a hotel room alone with a stranger. The room next to them seemed to have a room party going on, so they slipped inside. The thing about college; if you have alcohol people don't ask if they know you.

They set the alcohol on the table. "I'll make you a drink," Oliver laughed and mixed Barry a very diluted rum and coke. He made a show of using exactly one capfull, even it it meant spilling it on himself.

Barry watched Oliver's performance with narrowed eyes. "I can actually handle liquor." He retorted, pouring a little more rum into his drink. He wouldn't get too sloppy, but he wouldn't drink like an underage Wizard . As Barry would put it, referring to the teaspoon of rum in butterbeer. "You're so funny."

"Just looking out for the local lightweight." Oliver grinned widely, admittedly stepping in in a bit. He liked teasing Barry a little, he was already pretty comfortable with him.

A few drinks in and Barry was tipsy. "Okay, Ollie, can I call you Ollie? You gotta cross your arms. You gotta."

Oliver laughed softly and crossed his arms over his chest. "Okay?"

"Your arms are big!" Barry grabbed his upper arm. "Sorry, I didn't ask." he pulled back quickly.

"I played sports for five minutes in high school but I'm far from ripped." he laughed softly, he had run out of patience for sports around the time he graduated but he still kept in shape just a little bit.

Barry shook his head. "You're buff!"

"So are you." Oliver was not good at lying, but he tried, and he was more amused than anything which helped.

"No!" Barry grumbled. "I'm little, Iris always tells me so!"

Oliver laughed. "Iris doesn't know what she's talking about, your arms are great!" he squeezed down on Barry's bisep, and his fingers dug into his flesh. "Totally ripped." Sure, he was talking Barry up a lot, but Barry wouldn't remember this in the morning, anyway.

"Ow!" Barry protested. "I'm soft! That hurts!"

He patted Barry's shoulder, still grinning. "I'm sorry man," Oliver poured himself another drink and saw Barry finished off his rum. Barry was gone and Oliver's consumption was beginning to catch up with him. He wobbled over to where Barry had settled, telling some sort of cat story.

The person he was talking to, wasn't paying attention. The young lady had her long black hair thrown over one shoulder as she leaned down close to the table to inhale the line of cocaine she'd laid out.

Barry didn't seem to process this, as he began to explain why cats had barbed tongues. He had no indication that the woman wasn't listening, so continued without a care, his eyes closed as he swayed slightly in his seat. "It's like a little comb! Then their teeth--" When Barry opened his eyes, they fell on a group in the back lighting something.

His brain, through drunk had the anti-smoke reaction built in to him still. So he rose to his feet. "People are smoking, I have to leave." He tried to push his way through the hotel room, it wasn't very large but it was packed with people.

Oliver (who was just about as drunk as Barry but still a bit more self aware) caught Barry's arm carefully. "Hey, buddy. Where are you going?"

"They're smoking, I have to leave." He was serious, despite the slur in his words.

"The girl next to you was snorting coke and you're running because someone is smoking?" Oliver found himself a bit amused by the logic but helped Barry to the exit anyway. "Lets take the elevator."

"She was not, I don't believe you!"

"Lets take the elevator, okay?" Oliver lead him to the lift, not wanting him to tumble them both down the stairs.

They got themselves into the small elevator, and Oliver had to keep Barry from shutting his fingers in the door as it closed. The elevator was a bit old and he didn't completely trust it to not stop at the blockage.

"Ollie?" Barry asked, sounding a bit tired but it was more the alcohol than anything.

Oliver's lips formed a hard line, leaning his head against the back of the elevator. "Yes, Barry?" He felt a weight against his side.

"Are you …" his train of thought seemed lost for a moment. "strong enough to pick me up?"

Oliver laughed out loud, he couldn't help it. "I don't think so, man."

Barry mumbled a bit into his shoulder. "You should try. I'm very tired."

When the reached the bottom, and the door opened again, Barry was leaning into Oliver.

Supporting a lot of Barry's weight they went through to the sofa next to the staircase and sat down on either side of it. Barry had already made it clear that he wasn't letting Oliver in his room, so he figured this was their best destination.

Oliver took a sip from one of the bottles he'd snuck out of the party before laying his head back against the sofa cushion."... Hey thanks for hanging out with me tonight."

A stupid smile spread across Barry's face. "Of course, you're really cool." he stopped himself. "Sorry to sound like a middle schooler but yeah, it's been fund hanging out with you. I don't really--"

"Wander around drunk with people?" Oliver made an attempt to finish his sentence.

Barry shook his head with a discontent hum. "Make friends."

"I don't see why not, you're good company."

Barry wanted to trust Oliver's words, as he was drunk. However he just wasn't sure he could see it.

Oliver groaned and leaned his head back on the back of the sofa, taking a few more drinks as the previous ones really started to hit him hard. "I … just came out to my parents, literally one week before this trip." Oliver laughed awkwardly. "I expected to just hide in the back with friend Tommy and beer."

"Oh, that would explain why I never saw you at any of the meetings!" Barry reached out and clapped Oliver on the back. "Congrats on coming out, I hope it went alright. It was nice of your friend to drag you along."

"He was my first love, we don't really talk about it but it was like that for both of us. I love him a lot!." He wasn't sure why he admitted this to Barry, he just seemed easy to talk to. "He's always been so … uncaring about what people think. He was always so brave, he never really had a closet to come out of-- if I can say that?"

Barry shrugged. "You can say whatever you want, Ollie. There's a lot of lingo that might be hard to catch up on, I know it took me forever, and I never had much of a closet either."

"Really?"

Barry thought for a moment. "I guess so," he rubbed his chin as he thought. "I can't really think of a time when I wasn't really honest about who I am, and I figured it out pretty early on." He honestly didn't expect to have this deep of a conversation with this stranger, but he pressed on. "I lived in a pretty liberal bubble with my parents, didn't have a lot of friends."

"Oh." He paused, wondering if he should press forward. "So, coming out was easy for you?"

"My dad loves to tell me--" he hummed tiredly. "How I talked about Peter Parker being my husband … when I was like six." he looked down his cheeks getting hot. "I mean-- it's stupid but--"

"I think that's really cute." Oliver argued. "I don't think I even thought about it until I was going into high school," he thought for a moment. "I didn't tell anyone until I was like, eighteen, and that was my friend Everyone else in my life already kind of knew-- I told my parents two weeks ago. It still feels weird to say I'm bi."

"I take it that didn't go well?" Barry turned over on his side to face Oliver, but it was difficult to keep his eyes open.

Oliver thought on it for a moment. "It's kinda difficult. My mom wants me to stay in the closest until I die, and my dad thinks I should wear it like a badge of honor and out do anyone who makes me feel like my orientation matters in the world." he laughed without humour. "I don't want to do either."

"Hmm? What do you want to do?" Barry asked, turning his head slightly to look at him.

"I just want to … exist."

"Don't we all," Barry mumbled, pressing his head onto Oliver's shoulder. "but you have lots of people who love you, don't forget that."

Oliver groaned and threw his arm across his face. "Laurel would hit me with a pipe wrench if I forgot that."

Barry closed his eyes tightly and frowned. "That's really specific, are you ok? How drunk are you?" Apparently too drunk to explain that the pipe wrench comment was an inside joke.

"I love Laurel, she's so nice to me even though I'm an idiot." Oliver pouted, and the two slowly fell asleep on the sofa at half past 5am. If Barry was less drunk he would be surprised that he'd spent the night with a stranger like this. He wouldn't be able to bring himself to regret it, though.


End file.
